Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
A few weeks ago a wrote a review of the short free ebook on saving and investing by Dr. William J. Bernstein. I thought the book was a very good but short.
Continue reading “The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein”
William J. Bernstein is an impressive man. He has an M.D. and Ph.D, practices medicine with a specialty in neurology, and has become a respected investment expert. He is best known for his quarterly journal on asset allocation and portfolio management.
He has written several books for those of us would like to intelligently manage our investments. And he offers personalized services for those with rather large investment portfolios (25 million dollars and up).
Now Dr. William J. Bernstein has offered a free ebook aimed at the young who are interested in saving for retirement. The subtitle really tells you what this book is about – How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly
His plan is a simple one. He has said it is one that can be understood by a child and requires about 15 minutes each year.
Yet he believes it will yield better results than possible with most financial advisors. And quite likely he is right.
The book is also a guide to furthering reading to increase your financial literacy.
Since the key to the plan is deferred gratification, following this plan is not easy. But even if the implementation is only partial you will be better off in the long-term. So if you try and find it too difficult to continue, you are better off.
The book is not very long (estimated at 27 pages). It is very definitely worth anyone’s time. It is written for the younger generation but anyone with an interest in long-term saving and investing will benefit.
And the price is simply amazing. Dr. Bernstein is giving it for free on his website. It is in several formats and easy to download (nothing beyond a click is required). Amazon gives it away for free from time to time but most times it is 99 cents.
You have little-to-nothing to lose and quite a bit to gain so – read this book.
The Little Book of Alternative Investments: Reaping Rewards by Daring to be Different by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth is indeed a little book. It is about 250 page but those pages are little – a bit less 5 by 7 inches according to my ruler.
I have enjoyed several books in this Little Book, Big Profit series. Of course, Ben Stein is not only an economist but a humorist (among his many talents) and for those of us who enjoy his humor, this is a wonderful new addtion to the series. Not only do Stein and DeMuth explain the world of alternative investments beyond the standard stock/bond portfolio in an extemely clear way but they add a touch of humor to make the economic lessons entertaining.
They propose looking at an entire portfolio in terms of risk. And discuss adding alternatives to your portfolio to decrease risk and add a bit of return as well. They also discuss several stategies used to decrease risk and suggest cheaper alternatives. And strategies that are unlikely to work for most of us. Learn about commodities, collectibles, real estate, hedge funds, and more and how they could fit into your portfolio or NOT. Who knew there were so many hedge fund types? Read this book and you may decide to check out more in the series.